Lab 6 - tracking the night sky 2 PDF

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tracking the night sky 2...

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Lab 6: Tracking the Night Sky II PART1 1) The celestial equator crosses East and west. 2) Altair: RA= 19h 50m Dec: 8° 3) Antares: RA= 16h 30m Dec: -22° 4) No, the RA/Dec values did not change. View from San Francisco 1) Latitude in San Francisco is 38° 2) About 89° 3) The altitude is about 37° Prediction: I do think that we could see the entire celestial sphere as time goes by because the Earth is always rotating.

5) Some stars that are rising are Mirfak, Sheratan, Mirach, in constellations like Cassiopeia, Perseus and Aries. Some stars that are setting are Vega, Alphecca, Alioth in constellations like Lyra, and Ursa Major. 6) Polaris and the Ursa Minor constellation always stay above the horizon. 7) Polaris never rises or sets, it just stays in the same place.

8) Because San Francisco is located in the Northern hemisphere, I would not be able to see some stars from the Southern Hemisphere. My prediction was incorrect. The View from the North Pole 1) The latitude if the North Pole is 90° 2) The declination of Polaris is about 89° 3) The altitude of Polaris is also 89° Make a prediction No, I do not think I could see the entire celestial sphere from the North Pole because we are only able to see the stars on the top half of the celestial sphere. 4) After a day or two, the stars do not change their position. The earth is rotating, but the stars are not rising or setting. 5) No stars are rising or setting 6) Polaris, Vega, Arcturus, Pollux are some stars that are always above the horizon. 7) All of the stars in the Southern Hemisphere never rise. 8) I think my hypothesis was correct. The view from the equator 1) The latitude at the equator is 0° 2) The declination of Polaris is 89° 3) The altitude of Polaris is 0° Make a prediction Standing on the equator, I do believe I will be able to see entire celestial equator because it is at the center of the Earth. 4) The stars are rising from the East and setting to the west. 5) All the stars rise and set. 6) Polaris is the only star that stays above the horizon 7) All the stars rise 8) I think my prediction was correct. The view from the Southern Hemisphere 1) The latitude of Windhoek is -22°

2) The declination of Polaris is still about 89° 3) The altitude of Polaris is about -22° Make a prediction No, I would not be able to see the entire celestial sphere from Windhoek because the Earth moves in eclipses and there are some stars from the northern hemisphere that do not reach the Southern Hemisphere. 4) The stars are rising in the East and setting in the west. 5) Sirius, Arcturus, Antares, Vega, Betelgeuse are some stars that rise and set. 6) None of the stars always stay on the horizon, 7) Polaris never rises 8) I do think my prediction is correct. Summary Questions 1) The declination of Polaris was the sane for all 2) The altitude and the latitude were the same 3) Yes, my observations in lab 5 were confirmed while observing the Sky in the Stellarium. 4) The benefit of the RA/Dec system is that it lets the astronomers know the observer’s location on Earth. 5) The benefit of the Alt/Az system is that it lets the astronomers know how high a star is above the horizon and which cardinal direction it is at....